THE JURY is no longer out on who will fill the empty seat on the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District board.

Rabi Elias is the new board member.

And like a jury that informed a judge they were deadlocked and were told to get back to work and render a verdict, the four members of the board who selected him did just that.

The process was a tad convoluted, but it ultimately worked. The saga also demonstrated the power of perseverance — with the help of a strong nudge from Supervisor Susan Adams and the public.

We applaud Las Gallinas Valley board members for listening and for doing what they were elected to do, which is provide leadership for their district and ratepayers. They ultimately avoided passing the buck to someone else.

And when push came to shove they did it unanimously, which shows the board could work together to do the public's business when it really mattered.

Elias, who retired as San Anselmo public works director in 2009, is a good choice to finish out Larry Loder's term, which ends in November.

We also commend Supervisor Adams for her leadership. She played a key role in making sure the democratic process was respected.

The Las Gallinas board members had asked county supervisors to select who would fill the open seat, saying they couldn't decide. Their lawyer told them they were running out of time. The other option was a costly special election.

Supervisors wisely demurred, saying they didn't want to get involved. Given four of the five supervisors are elected by voters outside the sanitary district, allowing them to select who represents Las Gallinas Valley voters would have diminished the democratic process. That needed to be avoided.

Adams attended the Jan. 10 Las Gallinas board meeting and urged the four members to take another shot at breaking their deadlock.

They met the next day and did just that.

Because the sanitary board members had waited past the legal deadline to make their decision, county supervisors had to officially bless their choice, which they did.

Filling open seats are an important decision for an elected board.

The board is at full strength again, allowing it to more effectively conduct the public's business. The new member also has the significant advantage of being an incumbent in the next election.

The members of the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District did the right thing. Now they can get back to the business of running their district.